Review of 'Resolutions' Exhibition at: http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/resolutions--what-s-yours-/id/6401#.Ut0zk7TLfcv

What always happens at the beginning of a New Year? Besides a lazy PJ day, everyone starts to make resolutions to better their life in some way. While most of us forget all about them pretty quickly, some people do take them quite seriously, and down at Hopkinson Gallery you can view several pieces of art inspired by resolutions.

Once you’ve climbed the stairs to the gallery, your eyes are instantly drawn to a small TV set upon two old-fashioned tea crates. On the screen is a woman with a plastic bag over her head. She is making frantic sudden movements at times, while at others she is tentatively feeling the space in front of her with a bare foot, trying to find her way around the room. This could be seen as projecting an image of her finding her way in life, or being blind to the world, which is partly the artist’s intention. The piece, Come Out Italy, Come Out is in fact making a loud scream in the face of Italy’s lack of law against homophobia and is made to reflect the courage that is needed for the LGBT community in Italy to stand up and be proud of who they are.

As you follow the room round (the exhibition only occupies one of the two rooms of the gallery space), you are then drawn to the next focal point. Four bright marker on paper drawings alongside a poem, aligned in a perfect line next to each other. All by Svitlana Kolsnichenko, the drawings are very similar, three of them are only differentiated by their colour scheme. The fourth, although done in the same style, has a young girl licking a lollipop at the forefront. Symbolising resolutions, the colour scheme of one of the tubular drawings is a mix of lime green and red to represent a watermelon and that the artist wants to incorporate more fruit and veg into her diet. The poem probably summarises the exhibition best. It is by the poet Rachel Long, and is called Resolution. It talks about the behavioural patterns around resolutions, and how easily they can be forgotten about.

On the other side of the room, is another piece by Svitlana Koelsnichenko and it is perhaps the most self-explanatory of the exhibition. It is simply called Girl with a Cigarette, and is an oil on canvas painting of a girl smoking a cigarette to represent the artist’s struggle with quitting smoking. In the far corner of the room is yet another intriguing piece. An oil painting of a watch, simply titled Anjoli’s Watch. The artist Cat Forward asked the public to send in pictures of things which are important to them, and Anjoli sent in a photo of her watch, saying that she wanted more time. Cat Forward interpreted it as making better use of the time she has.

Daniel Gaussen brings something a bit different to the exhibition. His pieces The Andromedia Galaxy and The Great Orion Nebula, were both taken via a telescope attached to a DSLR. It’s known as “deep sky photography” and shows the beautiful depths of space. But how does it relate to resolutions? Daniel’s resolution is to improve his astrophotography skills. Lubarbara Blaster & Heartwin have worked together to bring the short film Chez Vous to the exhibition. The video’s intention is to make people think about how easily a resolution can be misunderstood. You’ll have to get down to Hopkinson if you want to see the way they do this, though.

If you’re inspired by the exhibition or reckon that sharing your resolution will help you stick to it, you can get involved with this exhibition. Hopkinson Gallery are asking you to write down your New Year’s resolution on a sticky note for their Resolutions Wall. You’re not limited to a sticky note though, you’re more than welcome to go crazy and do a full piece for the wall, just get creative and get it back to them before Sunday 2 February. By the end of the exhibition it should hopefully be a massive mix of Nottinghamian’s resolutions. I wonder how many of them will be kept…

Resolutions: What's Yours? runs until Sunday 2 February, Hopkinson Gallery, 21 Station Street, NG2 3AJ.

Press Release for 'everyday' exhibition

everyday – is a good day!

Have you ever sat back an pondered about where the day has gone. What little chunks of activity make up a 24 hour period in your life?
If you could depict your average day what would you choose?
Maybe your walk/bus ride/drive to work, maybe your home made sandwich, maybe your desk.
What objects do you carry with you?
What do they say about you?
What do you want them to say about you?
Painter and occupational therapist Cat Forward has chosen to answer these questions in her exhibition everyday in which she creates portraits of objects relevant to individual lives as well as things that have a cultural cache and significance.
The bright nature of her work makes it all the more appealing at this time of year.
So make your new years resolution one to step back and think about what makes up your projected identity.
Come along to the open evening and meet Cat herself 17th Jan 2014 6-9pm